14 February 2021

Karl Robinson delighted with Oxford’s comeback victory against Wigan

14 February 2021

Oxford boss Karl Robinson was delighted with his team as they came from behind to beat Wigan 2-1 at the Kassam Stadium in a game that was held up for 45 minutes.

Several floodlights blacked out and firefighters were called to deal with a small fire in a power generator, with the stadium evacuated at half-time until the problems were resolved.

Wigan went in front through Callum Lang after 57 minutes but the U’s hit back through Sam Winnall in the 72nd minute and Elliott Moore’s winner in the 83rd minute, which moves them to within a point of the Sky Bet League One play-off places.

Robinson said: “When the pitch quickened up as it went on, I thought we quickened up as well.

“We’ve won the games against the teams below us that we’ve wanted to win.

“We had said before the game we wanted 34 more points – and obviously that’s 31 points now – to get ourselves into what is historically a play-off campaign.

“You have to make sure when you have days like today and when you’re maybe not at the races to find a way of getting the result and we did that.

“I think Sam Winnall showed everyone with his goal why I brought him in. And Brandon Barker, when he came on, he lit the place up and looked a top-level player.

“I just felt the energy in our team was very good.

“At 2-1 when you come from behind you don’t necessarily chase a third goal and we had two players who came on and sat in there and did a good job to see the game out.

“I want to say a massive thank you to the stadium company – the pitch staff stayed here overnight to get the game on and the way they dealt with the fire, which was nobody’s fault – the calmness with which they dealt with it and how quickly we got the game back on, you’ve sometimes got to say thank you and well done.”

Wigan’s caretaker manager Leam Richardson said: “Overall, I thought for 70 minutes we were worthy of something and in the last 15 or 20 minutes we self-destructed a little bit.

“I have a feeling of frustration. With all the stop-start and the fixture changes – but we got on with it with no excuses.

“It was the same for both sides and we thought we started the second half quite well, despite the delay, and got our noses in front.

“Fundamentally, where we felt we were strong, we should have been stronger and we conceded two goals that were disappointing.

“I am made up with the work-rate and work-ethic but disappointed with the manner of the goals conceded.

“The little bumps in the road keep coming, we settled well into the game and first half we were solid. But all the disruption of half-time – we had to get back on the coach, warm up again and start in a different environment for the second half.

“It takes its toll but I don’t want to make any excuses.

“The second half was really scrappy, we got our noses in front but two balls into our box that we should defend better against cost us.”

The best videos delivered daily

Watch the stories that matter, right from your inbox